


Five Times the Ghost Crew was Glad to have an Ex ISB Agent Around

by Kereea



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Comedy, Crew as Family, Drama, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-15 21:32:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10558038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kereea/pseuds/Kereea
Summary: ...and one time it made things REALLY awkward.





	

1

Zeb knew Kallus couldn’t help but analyze, well, _everything_. Picking apart stuff into details had been the basis of his entire adult life as an intelligence officer. And sure sometimes it got a bit unnerving when you realized Kal was analyzing almost everything you did out of sheer habit, but it usually wasn’t much trouble since it wasn’t like Kal acted on it that much. Only reason to act would be something out of the ordinary and since the crew didn’t have an ordinary to start with Kallus had to spend extra time parsing out whether something was truly out of character or not.

 But it also meant he always knew when someone was upset. And he didn’t have to do a little check with the Force like Ezra or Kanan, he just figured it out from a million little things that all made one big sign to him.

 It could have been unnerving, but Zeb found it kind of nice. He didn’t have to say anything, he didn’t even have to consciously do anything, but Kallus would figure out something was wrong anyway and offer support. He even seemed pretty good at guessing what kind of support, which was nice since Zeb didn’t normally feel like talking when he was having a bad day.

 He just felt like knowing someone else thought things would work out and was there for him. And not in the chatty awkward try to get you to talk way, just…there. Ezra and Sabine were good at being there but not at being _just_ there, they usually talked or worse tried to get him to talk and it was just…not what was needed sometimes.

 Zeb didn’t know it if was spy training or just Kal’s personality but the guy could sit still and just be there for hours sometimes. Given how many details he picked up in one day it was possible he was just sorting stuff in his head the whole time but it still felt like he was there even if he was doing that.

 “…What are you thinking about?” he asked, looking over at Kallus.

 “Nothing important,” Kallus said, shrugging. He looked at Zeb, “Are you going to be all right?”

 “Getting there,” Zeb said. “Thanks.”

 Kallus grinned at him before looking away and letting the peaceful quiet resume. Only…Zeb didn’t feel so much like quiet right now. “Want to spar?”

 “Do you think you can win?” Kallus asked, smirking. Zeb loved that look, almost as much as he loved wiping it off Kallus’ face in a fight.

 “Let’s find out.”

 

2

 “Okay so we get in, steal the module, and get out,” Ezra said. “And we’re already in.”

 “Steal the whole module? Why?” Kallus asked.

 “Because they take forever to crack,” Ezra said. “And it’s not like we know any of the pass…words…” his shoulders slumped and he chuckled weakly, “ _You_ know the passwords.”

 “They can’t have changed all of them across the whole Empire in only a few weeks so most likely, yes,” Kallus said. “We can try that first and if it doesn’t work go back to your plan.”

 “Okay but for now, new plan. We sneak in and you just download everything,” Ezra said. “And we don’t have to carry out a twenty pound lump of metal.”

 “And delete everything.”

 “What?” Ezra asked.

 “Delete the information after downloading,” Kallus said.

 “Right, right, so they don’t know their plans!” Ezra said. “Like we tried with Alloton!”

 “No, I’m thinking more delete their _paperwork_ ,” Kallus said as the finally found the right room and used a stolen access card to get in.

 “What good will that do?” Ezra asked.

 “Lost reports, lost accounts, lost lists, lost _paychecks_ ,” Kallus said emphatically, “will all throw this garrison into disarray and probably give us more time in the sector before they can respond. They’ll have to waste time getting back thousands of little facts they can no longer look up while we have more time to do reconnaissance.”

 “Huh. So we’re throwing a wrench in their gears?” Ezra asked eagerly as they went to work on the terminal.

 “Mm-hm,” Kallus agreed.

 “…Somebody ever do that to you? When you were, you know?”

 “No but someone did it to part of Ozzel’s fleet once. Stalled some operations for over a month until they got all the backup paperwork sorted and re-did everything else. ISB had to help in retrieving some information.”

 “Sweet,” Ezra said as everything finished downloading and Kallus started deleting it all from the databank. “Should we add anything?”

 “Like what?” Kallus asked.

 “Like, I don’t know, a virus? Something?”

 “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Going too far would take too much time and might leave clues,” Kallus said.

 “Call me crazy but I think they’ll know Rebels did this,” Ezra said, rolling his eyes.

 “That’s not what I-” Kallus started to say before some alarms went off. “…Ten credits Garazeb wasn’t able to stay hidden.”

 “Twelve that Chopper got bored,” Ezra said as they bolted from the room.

 

3

 “So what are you saying?” Sabine asked.

 “Thrawn has an obsession with artwork,” Kallus said. “And spent a lot of time looking at your tagging.”

 Sabine snorted, “So let me get this straight…Grand Admiral Creepy is a fan of my work?”

 “A fan of analyzing it, more precisely,” Kallus said.

 “You get anything from him looking at Sabine’s stuff?” Zeb asked.

 Kallus shook his head, “If you mean did I gain any artistic insight, no. Beyond use and repetition of symbols, which I already understood.”

 “I meant about Thrawn, how he thinks,” Zeb said.

 “He’s…slow. Cautious,” Kallus said. “He likes to have all the pieces so that when he moves it is decisive. He gets in opponents’ head by analyzing their culture via artwork.”

 “That’s why he loots things,” Hera agreed bitterly. “Still, he adapts well even when taken before he has all his pieces.”

 “Thrawn’s main limitation is that the people around him don’t think like he does and don’t follow his plans as a result,” Kallus said. “Konstantine assumed Thrawn wanted all the glory for himself instead of that Thrawn was simply doing what he felt was most pragmatic. Pryce thinks Thrawn’s tendency to account for everything means nothing will go wrong and panics instead of adapting as Thrawn would.”

 “So when dealing with the seventh fleet…don’t engage Thrawn directly whenever possible,” Hera mused. “Cut communications and isolate the lesser commanders. Mimic Sato and make them make the mistakes that bring Thrawn down.”

 “I’d caution he’ll be on guard for that,” Kallus said. “But the man’s at Tarkin’s mercy for who is assigned under him.”

 Hera smiled sweetly, “Kallus, you wouldn’t happen to generally know things about random Imperial Navy officers and their potential foul-ups, would you? For whoever works with Thrawn next?”

 Kallus smirked back, “What do you think Intelligence Officers complain about to each other?”

 “I assumed Rebel Scum,” Sabine said. Zeb laughed.

 “Well, yes, that too,” Kallus admitted sheepishly.

 

 

4

 Kanan only just didn’t jump when louder footfalls came from his left. It was Kallus, then. Their newest member and Sabine were both normally silent on their feet and had to remember to walk a little more loudly around him, but Sabine didn’t start stepping louder so suddenly since she was more used to him. Kallus had a bad habit of startling him by seemingly appearing from nowhere. Kanan took some solace in the fact that even people who could see often got surprised to find Kallus had too-quietly wandered up behind them at some point, like Ezra had a couple nights ago.

  Kallus had come from the main supply room. Kanan turned in his direction, “Checking your lists again?”

 “Yes,” Kallus said, his footfalls dropping back into near silence now that he knew Kanan knew he was there.

 Kanan chuckled, waving him on. Kallus was rather obsessive about keeping an eye on supplies, about knowing exactly what they had at any given time. Zeb had claimed it was because Kallus had a “data obsessed brain” and Kanan was inclined to agree. Kallus liked knowing as much about anything at a time as he could and liked making himself useful with said knowledge. Add in that counting things could be rather calming to someone easily stressed—something Kanan himself had learned during many years in hiding—and Kallus pretty much assuming the role of ship’s quartermaster made some sense.

 And hey, it took a lot off the chore wheel so everyone was happy.

 “Kanan?”

 “Yeah?” he asked. He wasn’t sure if Kallus had been standing there the whole time or doubled back…probably standing there. He hadn’t heard a door open.

 “Have you heard Garazeb still up and about?”

 “He went to turn in a little while ago. You should do the same. Chopper and I have night shift,” Kanan said.

 “Thank you,” Kallus said. Kanan used the Force to check to make sure he actually left this time. Okay, good.

 

5

 “What was he hit with?” Hera asked.

 “I don’t know, some kind of gas!” Sabine said as Zeb put Ezra on the table.

 “He’s out cold,” Kanan said, grabbing Ezra’s wrist. “Pulse is steady, at least…”

 “Yeah well that kind of breathing’s not giving me much comfort,” Zeb said. “It sounds like he’s barely managing it!”

 “Constricted airway,” Hera said.

 “What did the gas look like?” Kallus asked Sabine.

 “Like a gas!” Sabine snapped.

 “Sabine, details,” Hera said. “Kallus might know what it was!”

 “Right, right,” Sabine said, pushing her bangs back. “Deployed via grenade, lobbed right at head level. Ezra was too busy blocking blaster bolts to duck. Gas was very pale violet.”

 “Red violet or blue violet?” Kallus asked as Kanan started CPR.

 “That matters?” Zeb asked blankly as Sabine confirmed, “Red violet.”

 “All right, it was thick, yes?” Kallus asked. “Flowed slowly? Sunk fast?”

 “Right on the money,” Sabine said.

 “It’s a hybrid poison, usually called Red Naboo,” Kallus said. “Based off something this lunatic on Naboo made during the clone wars. Inflames all the airways to contract them leading respiratory failure.”

 “Okay what do we do about it?” Hera asked.

 “Chloroform,” Kallus said. At everyone’s blank looks he sighed, “I’m _serious_. It slows it down. It’ll give us time to make the real antidote. Normally the idea is the Rebel starts choking and you inform them the only way to save themselves-”

 “Is to get knocked out,” Hera said. “Devious.”

 “Yes but since Ezra was already fighting he knocked himself out,” Kallus said. “I know what chemicals to use to counteract but we’d need to turn them into an inhalant, he needs to breathe it.”

 “We’ve got stuff for that,” Zeb said.

 Kallus and Zeb started working on the fix while Hera carefully held a chloroform rag to Ezra’s face. Within a few seconds his breathing evened out a little.

 “That should do it,” Kallus said.

 “Karabast! Who even comes up with this stuff?” Zeb asked.

 “The man was called…what was it…Nuvo Vindi I think,” Kallus said. “And no, I don’t know why he made it. I know it was modified for grenade use, but that’s it.”

 “If it keeps Ezra alive, good you know it,” Hera said.

 “Guess you’d have to know this stuff, given the time you poisoned stuff,” Sabine added.

 “Yes, well,” Kallus muttered. “It had its uses. And thankfully still seems to.”

 Late that night, Ezra was mortified when Chopper gleefully informed him Kallus’s creepy poison knowledge saved his life.

 

 

+1

 “So this is going to be quick, right?” Zeb asked.

 “We’ll see,” Hera said. “I’m not entirely sure what Saw is up to but if it’s no good we’re leaving.”

 Zeb frowned and glanced at Kallus. He’d been tense ever since they’d been given the mission to check on the Partisans and their near-radio silence. They’d already been planning to leave Kallus on the ship—the Partisans weren’t known for liking Imperial defectors much—but after they’d quickly briefed the rest of the crew with the same story Kallus had told Zeb on the ice moon Hera had decided that no one was leaving the ship’s landing area because frankly she found the radio silence worrying already and adding potential history between one of hers and Saw’s men just made it iffy.

 “If he’s breaking off, then we will accept his decision,” Hera said. “No pressure; we know Saw is volatile.”

 “No sudden moves,” Kanan added. “We’re just friends checking in. If he wants us gone, we go.”

 “Kallus, I want you to be ready to take off at short notice,” Hera said. “We’re not sure what’s going on.”

 “Got it,” Kallus said as they entered the atmosphere.

 “Who does the talking?” Rex asked. “You, me?”

 “Let’s start with me,” Hera said. “If you think you can help, by all means do it.”

 Hera finished the landing sequences as Kallus pulled Zeb aside.

 “Just…be careful.”

 Zeb snorted, “That’s your ‘don’t do anything stupid’ voice, Kal. Give a guy some credit here.”

 “Just…don’t. Not on my account,” Kallus said.

 “No looking for answers to your questions, you mean?” Zeb asked.

 “Just…be careful,” Kallus repeated. He was tense. They all were.

 Zeb rested his forehead to Kallus’, “We’ll be done soon. But keep your rifle ready.”

 Kallus settled into the pilot’s chair as the others disembarked.

 They waited. Sabine and Kanan took a bit of a wide perimeter at one point, but it took over an hour for Saw and his men to notice them and show up.

 “Captain Syndulla,” Saw said as their speeders came to a stop a few yards from the crew.

 “Saw,” Hera said. “The rest of the Rebellion was getting concerned since you went quiet. Everything all right?”

 Saw eyed them all. Zeb frowned when he spotted a lasat in the group. No real guarantee it was the merc from Kallus’ story, but he was older than Zeb and was eying the Ghost crew with equal wariness to Saw.

 “…Heard you picked up an ISB agent,” Saw said slowly. Sabine and Ezra both tensed. Rex pretended to itch his neck but Zeb knew he’d made sure the com channel was open so Kallus could hear what was going on and get ready to fire up the ship if this went badly.

 “The Rebellion’s got a _lot_ of defectors, Saw,” Hera said dismissively.

 “And you’d fall for the idea of a _spy_ defecting?” Saw asked. “How blind are you?”

  “You don’t know what that agent sacrificed for us, Saw,” Kanan said.

 “It’s all a trick,” Saw said.

 Zeb growled. The other lasat growled at him in response. They had a tense stare down which Zeb won when the other spied his rifle and started in surprise.

 “The agent in question is on our crew and loyal to the Rebellion, end of story,” Hera said. “We just want to know, Saw: are you breaking or not? If you are, we’ll leave you to it. We’re just trying to get answers.”

 “I don’t believe you,” Saw said simply. “Now leave.”

 “Taking that as breaking then,” Hera said. “We’ll let the higher ups know, Saw. Best of luck.”

 “You’re honor guard,” the other lasat said to Zeb. “You know what ISB did to Lasan.”

 “Given I was there, yeah,” Zeb huffed. He clenched his fist, wanting to say more but knowing it would only lead to a fight and delay departure. He’d promised not to do anything on Kallus’ account so he wouldn’t.

 They backed up the ramp, Kanan and Ezra going last to block potential fire. As soon as he was in Rex made for the turret. The rest of them headed for the cockpit.

 Kallus moved the bo-rifle from his lap to stand and give Hera back her seat. She patted him on the shoulder as she passed and he stepped closer to Zeb. He was still tense. Probably would be for a few days.

  Not that Zeb would feel much better. “Think I saw your mercenary.”

 “Oh?” Kallus asked.

 “Mm. Looks like a prick, if it was him.”

 Kallus rolled his eyes with a soft snort, “All right then.”

 Closure wasn’t always a real thing. And as much as Kallus might want his answers…he’d never ask the guy and Zeb couldn’t ask for him. If it had even been the same lasat at all.

 Zeb started at a hand on his neck. Kallus has somehow maneuvered them out in the hallway and was giving Zeb a gentle sort of smile. Zeb raised an eyebrow. “What?”

 “Thank you,” Kallus said.

 “For what?” Zeb asked.

 Kallus laughed, shaking his head, “Lots of things. Most immediately, not doing anything ridiculous out there today.”

 “Have a _little_ faith in a guy!” Zeb groaned, pushing Kallus back a few inches.

 “Come on now, Garazeb. I _know_ you,” Kallus said, folding his arms. “And I’m _saying_ I know it took a _lot_ of effort for you to not do anything. So thank you.”

 “Oh. Well that’s fine then. Say that part sooner next time,” Zeb said. “Come on. Maybe we can get a good spar in before next mission. I know I’ve got some things to work out.”

 “You say that like you’ll win.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know a lot of people tend to have Saw's falling out be huge and dramatic and fight-y but I like the idea of it being him just declaring himself done and then growing more paranoid later in isolation. To be fair it was still a very tense moment for everyone.
> 
> I could not resist referencing Vindi. I loved that bad guy.


End file.
